Government agencies offer new tool to boost access

“This interface enables developers to tailor applications for sub-sets of agencies and particular documents, and to optimize resources for the mobile Web,” the release continued. 

The new tool will make government information more transparent and easily available for the American public, the offices said.

“We are excited to offer tools that will increase access and openness to all.  This Application Programming Interface embodies our ongoing commitment to Open Government,” wrote Ray Mosley, Director of the Federal Register.

The API “is another example of GPO’s commitment to permanent public access as the digital information platform for the Federal Government,” added Public Printer Bill Boarman.

API is just the latest effort by the GPO to increase technology use within the government.

Earlier this year, the agency surveyed congressional offices about opting out of receiving print copies of daily and permanent editions of congressional and federal publications in an effort to reduce unnecessary printing and wasteful spending.

In June, Boarman told The Hill that he envisioned an increasingly technology-reliant Congress.

“I see the day when every member of the House and Senate will be carrying some kind of an iPad, and where they can sit on the floor or any hearing and they can actually page through a document,” he said.

“We just have to continue to be prepared for, I think, a paperless society,” he added.